American garages work harder

More than three quarters (78 percent) of homeowners in the United States plan to declutter and organize their garages in 2024.

That’s one of the findings of a survey from Craftsman, the brand of Stanley Black and Decker.

The Craftsman  Garage Works Survey unveiled a variety of insights into homeowners’ garage usage, aspirations and trends including:

• The side hustle: A large majority of homeowners (76%) say the garage can be the most productive part of the house. In fact, 28% surveyed said the garage has played a role in the development or growth of a side hustle.
• Get fit: Aside from working on projects, the garage can be used in other areas of productivity, like getting in shape. More than two in five homeowners indicate that they use their garage space as a gym to work out or area to exercise. Those who don’t work out in their garage frequently cited it’s because theirs is too cluttered to use as an exercise area.

“Garages are no longer a place just to store cars and tools; instead, they have become a hub of productivity, creativity and even a source of income for some homeowners,” said Eric Bernstein, President, General Manager of Craftsman at Stanley Black & Decker. “We are inspired by the various ways homeowners are transforming their garages.”

Other findings from the survey:

• Garage aspirations: Half of homeowners (50%) say they have plans to make investments in garage organization solutions in the next year, with the most interest being in storage bins and containers (54%), wall-mounted systems (51%) and portable storage (51%).
• Garage usage: Most homeowners primarily use their garage for the storage of vehicles (76%), but many also use their garages as a place to work on home improvement projects (47%), gardening/outdoor projects (47%) or automotive projects (38%).
• Get smart: 86% of homeowners express interest in integrating smart technologies into their garage (e.g., Wi-Fi compatible garage door openers, wireless keypads, etc.).
• Garage rock: Nearly one in nine millennial homeowners have used their garage to start a band or have band practice; and regardless of what they are doing while in the garage, if homeowners are listening to music in there, it’s most likely something that rocks. Rock tops the list of music genres (42%) that American homeowners listen to in their garages, followed closely by pop (37%), country (33%) and hip hop/rap (30%).

Craftsman commissioned Atomik Research to conduct an online survey of 2,005 adult homeowners with garages throughout the United States